The State of the Housing Economy: Q2 – 2016

That’s the question Elliot Eisenberg answers on this weeks’ Selling More Homes Podcast.

Dr. Elliot spent several years as an economist for the National Association of Home Builders, so he has intimate knowledge of how economic factors affect new home starts and sales. Listen to his insights on what to watch for in 2016 in this week’s program.

Notes from the interview with Dr. Elliot Eisenberg:

The housing recovery is progressing, and the near future looks positive for new home sales. 2016 hasn’t been – and probably won’t be – the boom year that some predicted, but the housing market, like the rest of the economy, is slowing gaining steam.

Large tract builders with land supplies are seeing the most growth now as lot prices continue to climb, making it more difficult for smaller builders to find and acquire affordable home sites. Rising land prices also mean higher new home prices, leaving new families struggling to find affordable housing.

While personal and mortgage credit is loosening slightly, the biggest obstacle is still the lack of financing for land acquisition, development and construction.

Small builders can compete by going where the larger builders aren’t and building what they can’t, such as building on infill lots; tear-downs; and focusing on larger custom homes.

The greatest growth opportunity for builders lies in courting Millennial buyers – younger buyers in their 20s and 30s. In the next decade they will be entering the market by the millions. Learn now what they want and how to deliver it, and you’ll carve out a profitable niche for the foreseeable future.

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Elliot Eisenberg, Ph.D. is a nationally acclaimed economist and public speaker specializing in making the arcana and minutia of economics fun, relevant and educational. He earned a B.A. in economics with first class honors from McGill University in Montreal, as well as a Masters and Ph.D. in public administration from Syracuse University. Eisenberg, a former Senior Economist with the National Association of Home Builders in Washington, D.C., is the creator of the multifamily stock index. Contact Dr. Eisenberg at Econ70.com.